13th Age Resource Page

13th Age is a d20 fantasy RPG produced by Pelgrane Press and written by Rob Heinsoo and Jonathan Tweet. "This is the RPG that Rob (lead designer of 4th edition D&D) and Jonathan (lead designer of 3rd edition D&D, Over the Edge and Everway) play at their own tables. New mechanics such as backgrounds, icon relationships, escalation dice and uniques offer exciting storytelling possibilities, simple yet powerful skill rules and fun, fast-moving combat."

By Rob Heinsoo: "...an adventurer tier sandbox adventure that could even be played twice by the same group with different characters and icon connections."

Eyes of the Stone Thief

2014

"The Stone Thief is an old and cunning Living Dungeon. For unknown ages, it has slithered through the Underworld, rising to consume towers and cities or other, lesser dungeons. Now, it has your scent. It swims through the earth, eager to steal everything you cherish, eager to drag you down into its hellish labyrinth." Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan talks about it here.

Third Party

13th Age is an OGL game. Publishers can indicate compatibility with the Archmage Engine logo.

Monsters

13th AGE, the most anticipated RPG of 2013, will hit our store shelves very soon, and Pelgrane Press has very kindly provided us with an exclusive preview of the 13TH AGE BESTIARY! This sneak peak is the Redcap entry from that book - nasty little creeps just waiting to ambush you! Click here to see it!

elgrane Press has sent along an exclusive preview of the 13th Age Bestiary! The book will be a 220-page hardcover book in early 2014, and the preview highlights the Naga: "Naga aren’t unreasoning monsters. They generally have perfectly sound reasons for wanting intruders dead. Interactions where they’re willing to talk with twolegged mortals are also troubled by the fact that the nagas’ arrogance and condescension mean you will soon want them dead." It's quite the extensive preview - 8 gorgeous full-colour pages detailing various naga types - the Swaysong Naga, Sparkscale Naga, Manafang Naga, Elder Swaysong Naga, Elder Sparkscale Naga, Elder Manafang Naga, and nastier specials, background information, adventure hooks, and more.

And the Rom Pharr Finder is a new 13th Age monster. "Mysterious thieves who appear out of the shadows to take your most prized possession, be it your daughter, your grimoire, your grandfather's ring, or even your Frost Brand. And even if you stop them, they will keep coming for it because they are relentless, and will not quit until their contract is fulfilled. They are the Rom Pharr and they will steal the the one thing you hold most dear."

The Field Commander is a new 13th AGE class to cover the beloved Warlord or Marshall slot.

The Dilettante is a new 13th AGE class in the vein of the Swordmage or Bladesinger.

13th Age designer Rob Heinsoo blogs about the other 13th Age designer Jonathan Tweet's sorcerer character. "Samlael's One Unique Thing is that he learned sorcery from his familiar, a small green snake named Winder. Winder does all the talking for Samlael, who only speaks in his normal halfling voice when he is casting spells."

Kobold Press has posted a new ravenfolk PC race for 13th Age. "Our ravenfolk are Western cousins of the tengu, shapeshifting creatures out of Japanese folktales. In Midgard these creatures are the trickster children of Wotan, and sacred warriors of hawk-headed Horus. The racial ability and feats reflect this Midgardian identity."

Kobold Press presents some more Midgard Icons for 13th Age. "In our eighth installment we visit the legendary clockwork city at the heart of the Crossroads, to meet an icon born in fire and revolution…"

13 Oracles - "Inspired by the oracles of Vincent Baker’s In A Wicked Age, these 13 Oracles may inspire improvised encounters or even whole adventures in your 13th Age campaign. There’s one Oracle for each icon, and each Oracle has four tables – places, objects, people and circumstances."

Walk in the Dark has an article on 13th Age traps. "In working with 13th Age, I noticed that there are several aspects that are lacking from the core ruleset: curses, diseases, poisons, detailed trap/hazard implementation, etc... The following is my attempt to explain how I am going to implement some of these things in 13th Age."

13th Age Prep: The Roller Coaster Method is an article at Exploded Clown. "Knowing how much to prep for a game of 13th Age has been an issue I’ve seen crop up a few places lately, and so I figured I’d write up how I’ve been doing it for my weekly campaign, which has been a pretty fruitful approach. I’ve openly said that I’m liberally stealing ideas from Full Light, Full Steam, Smallville1 and Dungeon World, and tonight I’m going to pull back the curtain a bit on how exactly that works."

Reviews

Critical Hits has reviewed 13th Age. "13th Age feels like the spiritual successor of 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons mixed with the storytelling mechanics of games like Fate and Fiasco. Rob Heinsoo and Jonathan Tweet give us a fully refined RPG mixed with a pile of house rules we can drop into any d20 game. While it’s great fun to run, 13th Age’s storytelling system demands much of a GM’s improvisation skills. At $45 plus shipping for the hardcover and PDF package or $25 for the PDF alone, 13th Age isn’t cheap, but you get a whole lot of game in a single beautiful package. If you’re looking for the evolution of D&D mixed with the storytelling of RPGs like Fate, look no further."

Rob Donoghue has finished his epic analysis/review of 13th AGE -- I've mentioned the separate elements in previous news (he covers each part of 13th Age separately). He has now posted a conclusion (with handy links to the rest of the items). "So, if you’ve gotten through any number of those, you have probably come away with two recurring points: (1) I really like this game; (2) I am frequently frustrated with this book"

Videos & Interviews

Here's a new 13tH AGE video from Gen Con featuring Rob Heinsoo and Chatty DM.

13TH AGE is on MTV Geek -- How Two D&D Veterans Created Their Own Fantasy Game, '13th Age'. "In some ways, it's familiar: go on adventures, hit monsters, loot their stuff. But in recent years the independent roleplaying game scene has done some great things with the idea that a group of people can create great stories together".

iO9 says"13th Age RPG delivers an incredible fantasy storytelling experience" and interviews Rpb Heinsoo on the design of 13th Age and the role of storytelling in gaming. Excellent article, well worth the read.

Regarding our video from UKGE about 13th Age. Sadly, the demo/gameplay footage we took was unuseable - the audio wasn't clear enough, despite our best efforts to clean it up. In the meantime, you can read about my playtest game, even if you can't watch it! Sorry! Update: we're releasing the video despite the audio issues. "At UKGE we were able to play a short, two-hour demo of 13th Age. Apologies for the audio quality here - we weren't set up to record an RPG in the middle of a loud, busy room, but we've done what we can to make it audible. We weren't actually going to make this public on account of the audio, but we've been persuaded otherwise - so here it is, audio notwithstanding! I hope it at least gives you a sense of the game."

Rob Heinsoo and Jonathan Tweet did an interview which covered, amongst other things, modrons, monks, and moving fights.

Rob Heinsoo has recieved the first printed copy of 13th Age! In the meantime, while you wait for yours, check out this video of the binding process in action.

Forbes has reviewed 13th Age, and has a video Q&A with Rob Heinsoo and Jonathan Tweet. "It’s fun, fast, and accessible and encourages imagination from players and GM alike. It bakes some very cool new ideas into the d20 ecosystem while keeping all the major pieces intact. Of the many systems I’ve read recently, it’s one of the best."